Method and apparatus for feeding glass charges of different colors



Oct. 20, .1931. E510. HILLER 1,828,226

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FEEDING GLASS CHARGES OF DIFFERENT COLORS FiledOct. 15, 192' 2 Sheets-Sheet l 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 E. O. HILLER Filed Oct.15. 192

,. III

III

Oct. 20, 1931.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FEEDING GLASS CHARGES OF DIFFERENT COLORSPatented Oct. 20, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE COMPANY, OF HARTFORD,CONNECTICUT, A.

CORPORATION OF DELAWARE METHOD AND APPARATUS ro'n' FEEDING emss' cannonsor DIFFERENT conons Application flied October 15, 1927. Serial No.226,322.

My invention relates to apparatus for and methods of feedin molten glassand is particularly adapted or use in the manufacture of toy marbles orother objects wherein glass '6] of several different colors areembodied.

In the manufacture of marbles, for example, it is the practice toimitate as closely as possible the color effects of agate and to thatend it has been the practice to supply the mar-- ble formin machine withcharges made up of glass of two or more colors so collected as toprovide a basic color having streaks or striae of other colorstherethrough, it being desired that the streaks be more or lessirregular and to thus more closely imitate the natural coloring of theagate. Prior to my invention, it has been customary to fee glass forthis purpose by hand, the gather collecting on his punty portions ofeach gather from two or more supplies of different colored glass. It isthe purpose of my invention to provide means and methods by which glassof several different colors or ford-Empire single feeder, which isillustrated and described in British -Patent No. 227,078, acceptedAugust 27, 1925. It has been proposed to so handle and mix glass of thischaracter by the o erations of such feeders, as to improve thehomogeneity and temperature conditions thereof, and to that end it hasbeen proposed to use a rotating member such as a tube or a plunger inthe forehearth of the feeder at or near the outlet thereof to intimatelvmix the glass delivered by the feeder prior to its passage through theoutlet. These rotating or stirring means have been proposed for thepurpose and to the end that the various straw of the same type of glassin the forehearth be so intimately mixed as to prevent inequalities oftemperature and viscosity of different axial portions of the moldcharges delivered therefrom. My novel method and the means employed toaccomplish it are not provided for the purpose of .so mixing the glass,but are specifically for the purpose of winding several dif- 1 appearfrom the following specification and appended claims.

Apparatus suitable for the practice of my method is illustrated in theappended drawin%, of which igure 1 is a front view partly in section ofa glass feeding apparatus provided with an im lement for controlling theflow of glass t rough an outlet in the bottom of a glass container andwith means for intermittently rotating the implement in a manner and toan extentdesirablein the production of colored glass for marbles; and

Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are plan views showing alternativemeans and methods ofgoverning the rotation of the stirring implement, by means of which agreat variet of effects, desirable in the manufacture 0 marbles, may beattained. v

Generally speaking, in the practice of my invention I make use of a wellknown suspended charge feeder, such, for instance, as the aforesaidHartford-Empire single feeder. This feeder has a container for receivingmolten glass froma source of supply and is rovided with an orifice inthe bottom thereof constantly submerged b the glass. Mounted in axialalignment wit the orifice is a refractory plunger mounted and driven toreciprocate toward and from the outlet to control discharge of the glassthrough the orifice. As generally used, the said single feeder alsocomprises a tubular member surrounding but spaced from the reciprocatingwith the use of the aforesaid tube. have .provided means for rotatingthe controlling plunger in various ways suitable for the practice of mof marbles an similar articles.

Referring'now to the drawings, 10 is the container for molten glassconnected to two sources of glass supply, not shown, and having a discThe space above the outlet is in communication with a plurality ofchannels, such as 12 13, through which glasses of different co ors arebrought to it above the outlet and within ythe control of a recirocating and rotating plunger 14. The p unger 14 projects through anopening 15 in the upper portion of the container 10 and is mounted inaxial ali eat with the orifice 11. The plun r an its mechanism issuitably carried y an arm 16 which is adapted to reciprocate the plungertoward and from the outlet by means, not shown, but which may beof anywell known t pe, such as, for instance, that included in t e aforesaidHartford- Empire single feeder and above referred to.

The feeder is preferably provided with adjustments such as are includedin the Hartford-Empire single feeder whereby the lengthof stroke of theplunger, the position of its stroke and the time of operation of theplunger with res t to the operation of a pair of shears, iagrammaticallyshown at 17, may be varied. The shears may be of any suitable and wellknown type, such, for instance, as those included in the Hartford- Emire sin le feeder and shown in the aforesai Briti patent, and may beoperated periodical] in timed relation to the operation of t e plun r toperiodically sever charges of glass ormed at and suspended from theoutlet. The plunger 14 is carried by a shaft 18 mounted in ball bearings19 in a housing 20, the housing being suitably mounted upon thereciprocating arm 16. The shaft 18 carries a gear 21 adapted to meshwith the gear 22. The gear 22 is mounted on a shaft 23 mounted inbearings, not shown, in a bracket 24 suitably fastened as by bolts 25 tothe casing of the glass container. The gear 22 is of such length as topermit constant engagement thereof with the gear 21 at all'points in thereciprocation of the plunger 14 and the housing 20. The r 22 is rotatedto eflect the rotation and ence the mixing action, of theplunger 14method in the manufacture arge opening in its bottom 11.

ment is given to the gear 22 and hence to the carried by a sprocket 32keyed to a shaft 33 mounted in bearings in the bracket 24 and connectedthrough a clutch 34, Fig. 1, and gearings, not shown, to a drive shaft35. The shaft 35 carries a pulley 36 driven from an electric motor orother source of power in synchronism with the reciprocations of thelunger and the operations of the shears. By means of this arrangement,intermittent accelerating and decelerating rotary moveplunger 14. By asuitable selection of gear ratios, the plunger may be rotatedintermittently at any selected times and to any selected extent. It may,for example, be retated completely once during each of its descendingmovements and permitted not to rotate during its ascending movement, orvice versa or it may be turned through an portion of a complete rotationdurin eac reciprocation thereof, or may be turns a plurality of timesdur' eachreciprocatlon, or it may be alternate y rotated through aplurality of reciprocations and not rotated through a similar ordifferent number of reci rocations.

y the mechanism shown in Fig. 3, means are rovided to rotate the plungerfirst in one 'rection and then in the other. By suitably selecting thecam there shown and the gear ratios, an infinite variety of rotationalcharacteristics may be given to the plunger, and hence a variety ofeffects in the mixing of the glasses may be obtained. The structure'shown in Fig. 3 comprises a gear 37 suitably mounted on a shaft 38carried by an extension of the bracket 24 and meshing with the gear 21and with a rack 39. The rack 39 slides in guide,ways 40 and carries atits inner end a cam roll 41 adapted to ride in the closed cam path 42 ofthe cam 43. The cam 43 may be mounted on the shaft 29 and is driven, asin the structure of Fig. 2, through the sprockets 30, 33 and chain 31.

Another arrangement-of mechanism for rotating the plunger is shown inFig. 4

wherein gear 21 on the plun r meshes with a r 37 mounted on the sha t38. The gear 8 also meshes with the rack bar 39 mounted in the guides 40and ha at its inner end a link connection at 44 wit a link 45 which,

in turn,is ivo ted as at 46 upon a crank 47' keyedto't e shaft 33. Bythe use of the structure shown in Fig. 4 the plunger may be rotatedfirst in one direction and then in the other, its 5 of rotationalternately accelerating an decelerating during each of the movements.As in the other cases described, the gear ratios maybe so selected thattheplunger may be given various rotary movements relative to itsreciprocating move ment. For instance, it may be completely rotated inone direction during one or more reciprocations of the plunger and inthe reverse direction during a succeeding number of reciprocations. v

In operation, in the manufacture of toy marbles, it is desirable thatthe color effects in successive marbles be varied, and this is readilyaccomplished by the use of the mechanism above described. The glassflows constantly in" a plurality of streams from the points TOf sufiflythrough separate channels to the area above tlie outlet 11 and thenceproceeds by gravity to and through -the'out- 1et.. As the glass beginsto issue the lunger moves downwardly, accelerating t e discharge andthen moves upwardly retarding or reversing the flow of glass. The shearsout either while the plunger is in its lowest position or as itcommences to rise. The glass so issuin is suspended from the outlet andis severe while freel suspended. fIt

' then falls freely through air to the shaping machine or onto asuitable trough, (not shown), down which it slides to the shapingmachine. The lower end of the plunger is always immersed in the glassand is in adhesive contact therewith so that'the rotation of the plungerimparts to the glass arriving in the several streams a twistin andintermingling action by which-the des1red color effects are obtained inthe finished article. heretofore stated, it is not desirable to sorotatethe plunger as to thoroughly mix the a several glasses, as such mixingwould cause plunger coacting wit a blending of the colors and destroythe effects desired in the finished article. 7

The characteristics of a rotational move ment of the lunger are to beselected with particular re erence to the temperature, viscosity andcolor characteristics of the several glasses used in a particularfeeding operation, and obviously no hard and fast rule is to be laiddown as to these characteristics, as the coloring effects desired in anyparticular batch of marbles depends largely upon the taste of themanufacturer or his customer; With a particular selection of glass, alarge number of desirable efiects may be obtained in the finishedarticle by the use of the a complishment of this and through the use.

rotated reci rocatin a supply of t e sever of an intermittentlyx glassessubmerging the outlet of a container.

D ab e u s y be obtain y an of the following'operations, among numerousothers (1) by the partial uni-directional rotation of the plunger duringeach reciprocating movement, (2) the partial duo-directional rotation ofthe plunger durin each of its reciprocations, (3) thecyclic variation ofthecha'racter of the rotational movement during one or morereciprocations of theplunger, (4)

channels or the means shown or conducting I the several colored glassesto the area above the feeder outlet, as this arrangement is theinvention of another.

Having fully described my invention, what Iclaim is:

1. The method of automatically feedingmold charges of glass from aplurality of glasses of different colors, which comprises impartingrotary movement to converging streams of glass of diflerent colors andmixing the glasses to a point short of blending, delivering theresultant glass in suspended masses be ow a severingplane, andseVeringcharges therefrom. i i

2. The method of feeding molten glass in charges, each comprising lassesof two or. more different colors, whic comprises passing separatestreams of glass to a common point above a submerged outlet in acontainer, stirring the glasses at such point to an extent short ofcausing the colors to blend, discharging the resultant glass downwardlyand susnding it in successive masses below a severmg plane, andperiodically severing charges therefrom. 3. The method of feedingcharges of molten glass, each of which contains glasses of differentcolors, which comprises passing the glasses from several distinctsources into a container and initially together above a downwardlyopening dischar e outlet and thence down and around an Implement-inadhesive contact therewith, stirring the glasses thus brought togetherby rotational movement im arted thereto by the implement, controllingthe discharge of the result-- ant glass through the outlet b the down-'ward and upward movements 0 said implement, and severing mold chargesfrom the glass so dischar 4. The metho of feeding molten glass ofdifferent colors in char es, which comprises bringing streams of dierently colored glass together at a common point and importingperiodically varying rotational movement thereto to wind the streamstogether, and delivering the resultant lass downwardly prior to acomplete'blend ing of the several colors.

5. The method of feeding lass in mold charges suitable for the manuacturetof toy marbles, whichcomprises passing a plurality of streams ofglass of different colorstoacommon point above a downwardlyopening-discharge outlet and into adhesivecontact-with a dischargecontrolling implement, controlling the discharge of successive masses"of glass, rotating the implement to wind the streams together, varyingin a given cycle the characteristics of the rotational movementimpartedthereto during the formation of the severalmasses, and repeatingthe c cle.

6. The method of feeding mol charges suitable for the manufacture ofglass marbles, which comprises streams of glass of iflFerent colors'to acommon point above a discharge outlet and into adhesive contact with adischarge controlling implement, intermittently rotating the implementto mix the streams of glass to anextent short of causing the colors toblend and withina given cycle, varying the character of the rotationalmovement of the implement to var the color effects in the glass insuccessive c arges, reciprocating the implement to control the dischargeof glass through the outlet, suspending the glass beneath the outlet,and severing charges therefrom. r

7. Apparatus for feeding mold charges composed of glass of differentcolors, which comprises a container for the glass having a submergedoutlet, a plurality of sources of suppl of glasses ofdifierent colors,means for con ucting streams of glass from said different sourcesinitially together-at a point above the outlet in the container, aplunger mounted for vertical reciprocation above and in axial alignmentwith the outlet, shears acting in timed relation with the reciprocationsof the plunger to sever glass suspended from the outlet, and means forimparting within a selected cycle irregular rotational move ment to theplunger whereby for successive charges in each cycle the character ofthe mixing of the glass of differing colors is varied.

8. Apparatus for feeding mold charges composed of glass of difi'erentcolors, which comprises a container for the glass having a submergedoutlet, a lurality of sources of glass supply, means F of each supply toa common point above the outlet in the container, a plunger mounted forvertical reciprocation above and in axial alignment with the outlet.shears acting in gassing a plurality of or conveying the glass timedrelation with the reciprocations of the plunger to sever glass suspendedfrom the during a selected cycle, rotational movement of varyincharacteristics, whereby the coloring of t e glass ofsuceessive chargesduring each cycle may be varied.

9. The method of feeding molten glass in mold charges which comprisesbringing a plurality of streams of glass of different colors initiallytogether at the upper end of a downwardly opening dischar e passage,twisting the several streams toget er as they pass into said dischargepassage to produce streaks of different colorsin the glass of thecombined streams, and severing the, mold charges from the glass issuingfrom the discharge assage.

Signed at Hartford, Connecticut, t is 14th day of October, 1927.

EVERETT O. HILLER.

